In the days of the Saviour, it was a custom to add musical accompaniments to these mournful songs. Thus we read, that, at the death of the daughter of Jairus, a ruler, a company of mourners, with players on the flute, attended. It is said, "When Jesus came into the ruler's house," he "saw the minstrels and the people making a noise," Matt. ix. 23. This custom of employing mourning women still prevails in the East. Thus Shaw, speaking of Moorish funerals, says, "There are several women hired to act on these lugubrious occasions, who, like the præficæ, or mourning women of old, are skilful in lamentation, Amos v. 16, and great mistresses of these melancholy expressions:" (that is, as he had before remarked, of squalling out several times together, "Loo! loo! loo!" in a deep and hollow tone, with several ventriloquous sighs :)" and indeed they perform their part with such proper sounds, gestures, and commotions, that they rarely fail to work up the assembly into some extraordinary pitch of thoughtfulness and sorrow." We learn also, from other travellers, that the same custom prevails among the Arabians, Tartars, Persians, Egyptians, etc.; and we find, from history, that the same custom formerly prevailed among the Greeks and Romans. The ordinary mourning for the dead was divided into two periods. The first was between the time of death and the burial, which was called the mourning, by way of eminence; and the second was for thirty days after the burial, Numb. xx. 29; Deut. xxxiv. 8.

When a rabbi was buried, books were frequently laid upon the bier; and we learn from Ezek. xxxii. 27, that it was honourable for a warrior to be interred in his armour. Then again, a person under sentence of excommunication had a stone placed upon the bier, or thrown into the grave. This was to signify that he was worthy of death, because he applied not to have the sentence removed. When the corpse arrived at the grave, a prayer was addressed to God, as the Giver and Restorer of life. The bier was then placed on the ground, round which the mourners walked seven times; another prayer was then offered up, after which the corpse was put into its place, and the relatives threw a handful of earth upon it, and then filled it over.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks of "the house of feasting," Jer. xvi. 8. This entertainment did not precede, but followed the solemnity of a funeral. It was given by the chief mourner at his own house, if distinct from that in which the deceased had lived. Those invited were generally the friends and acquaintances of the family, including those neighbours who sent food (according to the usual custom) to the mourners during the "days of weeping."

The enter

tainment was commonly liberal; they drank two cups of wine before their meal, five while eating, and three after; or, in other words, they had the offer of as many. When the parties were poor, the want was supplied by the liberality of their neighbours, as a token of their sympathy, and in the hope that such

liberality would be shown to them, when they were visited with a similar affliction, Ezek. xxiv. 17.

As oriental customs are of an unchanging character, there is not the vestige of a doubt that the houses now presented to our view, in the East, are of the same construction as those mentioned in the Bible. This is indeed borne out by the testimony of travellers in that

country; and as the description which Dr. Shaw gives is very minute, and illustrates several passages of Scripture in a very lucid manner, we shall present the most important portions of it to the reader, interspersing it, however, with a few remarks and elucidations drawn from other sources. He observes that

"The method of building, both in Barbary and the Levant, seems to have continued the same from the earliest ages down to this time, without the least alteration or improvement. Large doors, spacious chambers, marble pavements, cloistered courts, with fountains sometimes playing in the midst, are certainly conveniences very well adapted to the circumstances of these hotter climates. The jealousy likewise of these people is less apt to be alarmed, whilst (if we except a small latticed window or balcony, which sometimes looks into the street) all the other windows open into their respective courts or quadrangles. It is during the celebration only of some zeenah, or public festival, that these houses and their latticed windows or balconies are left open. For this being a time of great liberty, revelling, and extravagance, each family is ambitious of adorning both the inside and the outside of their houses with their richest furniture; whilst crowds of both sexes, dressed out in their best apparel, and laying aside all modesty and restraint, go in and out where they please. The account we have, 2 Kings ix. 30, of Jezebel's painting her face and tiring her head, gives a lively idea of an eastern lady at one of these solemnities.